MovieChat Forums > National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) Discussion > R then PG?

R then PG?

posted 9 years ago by tigerbonewan
5 replies | jump to latest

I'm wondering if I remember this correctly. I was 14 when this movie came out and I grew up in the mid-west where movie ratings were strictly enforced, and I'm pretty sure it was an R rated movie originally, and then there was a re-release about a year later as a PG movie, and that's when I remember everyone my age flocking to see it. The PG-13 rating hadn't been created yet. Even still, there was a lot more risque stuff - bare bottoms, bare breasts, a very realistic looking dildo, etc. then you will find in a PG or PG-13 movie today, so I'm not sure what they edited out to get the PG rating. This is the only movie I ever remember being re-released with a less restrictive rating and I think it was a pretty shrewd move. If they had done the same with Alien and Saturday Night Fever, those R rated blockbusters would have about doubled their box office take because every 12-17 year old would have gone. It's probably less important today because it's pretty well known theaters don't enforce the ratings and even if they did, it will be on dvd in six months anyway, but in those days, if a movie was rated R, it meant you weren't going to see it until it was hacked up and shown on ABC some Saturday night a few years hence.

[–] smcarter1966 9 years ago

I think your memory is kind of messing with your mind.

There was a re-release of Animal House in 1979, but it was never re-edited in order to achieve a PG rating.

However, Saturday Night Fever was re-edited to receive a PG rating and that version was released in 1979.

Just a wild guess here, but your memory is combining the facts into a mash up and telling you that everyone your age was rushing to see a PG rated Animal House when in reality they were rushing to see the PG rated Saturday Night Fever.

But memory sometimes does that to the best of us and shouldn't be worrying you. It's happened to me too.

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[–] movie_nazi 8 years ago

No way on any planet is this a PG. Way too much nudity and they say the F word about a dozen times. Even by today's standards you are only allow one F word for a PG-13. The only way you could get a PG rating was if they edited down for television standards and I can't imagine them playing that in a theater.

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[–] Willus_A 8 years ago

No way on any planet is this a PG.

Back then I didn't pay much attention to U.S. ratings. I lived in B.C. Canada (and still do), and back then there were only three ratings, General, Mature (B.C.'s equivalent of PG) and Restricted (18+). General is pretty self-explanatory. Mature though was an interesting area. You had to only be 13+ to get in without an adult. Animal House fell into that category. I was 13 when me and my buddy went to see this.

Some other movies I saw without adult accompaniment were The Blues Brothers, Up in Smoke, Cheech and Chong's Next Movie, Monty Python's Life of Brian (brief male and female full frontal nudity there) and many more I can't think of right now.

Restricted was reserved for explicit sex and extreme violence. I only remember getting my oldest brother accompanying me to a few Restricted movies such as, Apocalypse Now, Alien, and Slap Shot. The last one was rated R, more for the violence than nudity.

It seems the B.C. ratings board was more concerned with violence than with swearing, nipples or butts.

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[–] movie_nazi 8 years ago

Some other movies I saw without adult accompaniment were The Blues Brothers, Up in Smoke, Cheech and Chong's Next Movie, Monty Python's Life of Brian (brief male and female full frontal nudity there) and many more I can't think of right now.

All of those films either would have gotten a PG-13 rating if it existed back then but since it didn't they fell as R. Nowadays PG rating is rarely administered and only to the tamest of films. PG-13 is by far the most popular rating among Hollywood blockbuster films because they want to be able to allow the biggest audience to see the film and at the same time have the story retain some sort of edginess.

It seems the B.C. ratings board was more concerned with violence than with swearing, nipples or butts.

Yeah, well, you guys are way ahead up there. Our puritanical roots are still showing.

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[–] ronaldt49 8 years ago

I was surprised to fear the "F" word in a PG-13 film recently.
So if nudity and an "F" or two is allowed in PG-13, then it's possible that AH could be released as a PG-13 with little editing.

Pillow fight scene would be left in.
Mrs. Wermer in Delta House left in.
And so forth.

Nudity is possible when no sex is involved in PG.
Check out Papillion and the island scene where topless ladies possibly in mid teens are seen chilling out.